The Importance of Hashtags

If you want your business to get noticed when using social media, it is vitally important that you start to incorporate hashtags when sharing your content online. At fatBuzz we use them to help get your content to the right audience, and in this post we will share with you some hints and tips for using hashtags.

Now some would say that hashtags are just part of the “online lingo”. Which is of course true, we have all seen #NoFilter or #Selfie being used online. But the hashtag is much more than a modern colloquialism, it is an incredibly useful tool for connecting your business with the people you want to engage with.

With most major social networks now supporting the use of hashtags, including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram, there has never been a better time to start using them!

Hashtags will serve as a hyperlink to other users on social media sites that search for the term.

If you start to think of hashtags as a conversation topic, they will allow people who are interested in the discussion to be able to quickly identify and engage with you.

For example, if you were wanting to engage about the Oscars this year, using the hashtag #Oscars2015 has a better chance of being seen by those interested in the awards as they can simply search for the hashtag and see your post.

In using hashtags you will be able to expose your content to a wider audience as you are channeling information to the right people. However, using them correctly is what can truly boost your business’s chance of engagement.

One key factor in using hashtags is to keep it brief. Overlong and overdetailed hashtags simply won’t catch on. You want yours to be a clear and concise summary of the topic/event you are talking about.

You also shouldn’t be using more than two hashtags at a time. Studies have shown that when you use more than two hashtags, engagement drops by 17% on average. A quality summary will always be better than a high quantity when it comes to hashtagging.

If we look at the Oscars example again, picture yourself searching for a term to see who has won best actor. Are you more likely to look for #WhoHasWonTheOscarForBestActor or #OscarWinners?

It is that simple, and getting yourself into this habit will make sure that your hashtags are relevant and easy to find. If you stick to using keywords in yours it will make for a much more engaging hashtag.

Remember as well to use existing hashtags to connect with your audience. If your business is attending an event, look out for official tags and if you think they are relevant - use them! They are a great method of marketing yourself within an existing group.

We have covered the basics to help you in using hashtags on social media. The next time you post an update, a blog or tweet, we hope you try some of our tips and see for yourself how helpful using a simple hashtag can be. #GoodLuck!

For more helpful hints on how to market your business follow fatBuzz on our social media channels below, check out our QuickBuzz videos on YouTube and of course stay posted right here on our blog.

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Wimbledon Making a Racket in the Social Media World

Fans flocked to SW19 yesterday for the first day of Wimbledon, and as usual, there were plenty of serves, shocks and strawberries - but at fatBuzz, we're more excited by the activities on line rather than on court!

Although the competition is only in its second day, we have been thoroughly impressed by Wimbeldon's commitment to social media this year.

From Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+ (yes, even Google+), Wimbledon has got a visible presence across multiple platforms - and so far - they're really making a racket in the social media world. 

For the purposes of this blog post, we're going to focus on Facebook, Twitter and the brand new iPad app, The Championships, Wimbledon 2013, but before we do so, we had to mention the dedicated Social Media page on the Wimbledon website.

On this page, you can view featured hashtags, video and radio clips and slideshows, as well as its latest Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds. There is also a blog and live blog, where you can keep up to date with the latest news and results, as well as see behind-the-scenes.

Facebook

At the time of writing this blog post, there are 1, 206, 018 likes on Facebook, and we're sure that figure will increase dramatically throughout the next two weeks - so what features and functionality have encouraged over 1 million people to 'Like' the Wimbledon page?

Aside from general pictures, videos and status updates, there are three separate custom iframe tabs; Our Tweets, where you can view the Wimbledon Twitter feed, Instagram #wimbledon, where you can view the latest Instagram feed, and Our Videos, where you can, of course, watch the latest videos.

There are also daily polls to engage the community, and we have noticed that a new event is being created every single day, where people are directed to the website to buy tickets. Clever.

One relatively new Facebook feature which Wimbledon is effectively using is the hashtag functionality. No prizes for guessing that the most used hashtag on the Wimbledon Facebook page is, of course, #Wimbledon.

Twitter

As of today, Wimbledon currently has 581, 840 Twitter followers, and although this is substantially less than the 1, 206, 018 likes on Facebook, there certainly seems to be a lot of engagement.

In addition to creating hashtags on a daily basis to engage their users in topical conversation (e.g. #Wimbledon, #tennis, and #SW19) one of the most interesting aspects of Wimbledon's Twitter output is Twitter's 'Magic Mirror'.

First used at The Oscars earlier this year, the mirror, which will be placed where only players can access it, will give tennis fans the chance to see behind-the-scenes photos at SW19. Once the photo has been taken, the images will automatically be posted on Wimbledon's official Twitter account, accompanied by the hashtags #TwitterMirror and #Wimbledon.

iPad App

Last, but certainly not least, is Wimbledon's brand-new iPad app, which is available from iTunes.

The app, The Championships, Wimbledon 2013, allows users to navigate around the grounds via a photographic map, zooming in on specific courts to get updates on the state of play.

The app also provides live scores, results and stats, draws and play schedules, profiles of players, live radio, and a live video show with interviews, highlights and features on the tournament.

Other features of the app include live time lapse images from the grounds, favourite player performance alerts, fan feedback, and much more.

With so many different ways of connecting and sharing your experience of Wimbledon, be it at home or at SWG3, we think they are most definitely social media ready - and we're already looking forward to seeing what tricks they have up their sleeves in the coming weeks.

Do you think the the use of social media will enhance your experience of Wimbledon? Is there anything else social media related that has impressed you this year at Wimbledon? Let us know over the next couple of weeks on Facebook and Twitter, or of course, you can also leave a comment on the blog.

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Christmas Hampers Charity Competition

As many of you will be aware, fatBuzz is running an exclusive Social Media Training Day for charities tomorrow - and we are happy to reveal that our goodwill doesn't stop there.

To celebrate our Training Day and to reward charity workers' continuous hard work and dedication, we are giving away not one, but TWO of Mitchells Dairy's luxurious Christmas Hampers.

If you think a particularly deserving charity worker has gone above and beyond the call of duty this year, or if you simply want to show your appreciation, we want you to nominate them for this fantastic prize.

To do so, you can nominate him/her on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or you can comment directly on this blog post.

And that's not all! If the person you nominate wins the Christmas Hamper, we will also throw one in for you for taking the time and effort to nominate them!

The competition will close at 12pm on Monday 5th November, so remember (remember) to get your entries in before then!

If you don't win this competition, but still want to buy Mitchells' Christmas hampers for your friends, family or colleagues, you can visit Mitchells' online Hampers Store by clicking HERE. 

Starting from the £35 Afternoon Tea Hamper and ranging up to the £140 Taste of Scotland Hamper, there really is a hamper to suit every taste and budget.

If you want to get in touch with Mitchells and order a bespoke hamper, you can contact them on: 01467 621389 or info@mitchells-scotland.com

Good luck everyone, and we hope you have a wonderful, educational and beneficial day at our Social Media Training Day.

PS. We will also be making an exciting announcement about further charity support later in the week, so make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out the news.

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Exclusive FREE Social Media Training Day for Registered Charities

FREE SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINING FOR CHARITIES

8th October 2012
MORE PLACES NOW AVAILABLE
We are delighted to announce we have just agreed with No.29 that we can have some additional attendees at the Charity Training Day. So, if you haven't booked your place please make sure you do so as quickly as possible.  We have over 100 already booked with a very limited number of places remaining.

fatBuzz is pleased to announce a very special event for charities in Scotland - a free social media training day.  We have always been committed to helping charities whenever we can, however as a commercial organisation, there is only so much we can do on a one to one basis.  Borrowing the motto from The Entrepreneurial Exchange, we believe in the notion we should 'work hard, play and give something back'; that's why we are running this exclusive event.

We are fortunate to have the support of No.29 Private Member's Club, Commsworld, Orb Group, The Networking Coach and, Bloom VC to help us run this important training session specially for registered charities in Scotland.

We intend this to be an intensive day of presentations to help charities understand the potential of social media and demonstrate how they can use the various tools to tell their story and create emotional connections. We will explore how to raise awareness, and support fundraisers and fundraising events; every topic will be tailored to charities with the aim of helping to make the most of their time when engaging in social media.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Wednesday 31st October

Venue: 29 Private Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow

Time: 8:30am for 9:00am until 5:45pm

HOW TO BOOK

Thanks to generous support, we are able to offer this event entirely free of charge.

You must be a full-time employee or official representative of a registered charity to attend the event. We would like as many charities to be represented as possible, therefore we are initially limiting attendance to 2 people per charity.  

If you would like to come along please email Fiona Macdonald fiona@fatbuzz.com with your name and the name of your registered charity.  Alternatively, you can call Fiona on 0141 427 0727. Places are limited and bookings will be taken on a first come basis so please reserve your place as soon as possible.

PLEASE SHARE WITH OTHER CHARITIES

We are keen to have as many charities as possible on the day so, please share this post with any relevant people you know who may be interested in attending.  We have also included share buttons at the top and bottom of the page to help you share this post on your social media platforms.

PROGRAMME

The programme below outlines the topics and the timing of the presentations. (May be subject to change)

8.30 - 9.00

CHECK IN 

Guest arrive at 29 Glasgow - Tea and Coffee on arrival 

9.00 - 9.10 

INTRODUCTION - Gordon White, fatBuzz 

Speaker introductions and purpose of event

9.10 - 9.30 

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING - Gordon White, fatBuzz

Introduction to social media

• Why the third sector should be using social media?
• Back to Basics - Simplifying Social Media Marketing

9.30 - 10.00 

BLOGGING - Gordon White, fatBuzz

The power of blogs and why they should be the ‘hub’ of your social media activity

• Blog platforms
• Content
• Building and audience
• Sharing and syndicating your blog posts

10.00 - 10.10 

Q&A
10.10 - 10.25 

CASE STUDY - Mark Wright, Commsworld

How charities are benefiting from well planned communications 

10.25 - 10.40 

NETWORKING BREAK

Tea and Coffee  

10.40 - 11.00 

INTEGRATING ONLINE AND OFFLINE MARKETING - Mike Smith, Orb Group

Why you should consider promotional merchandise in your overall marketing strategy?

11.00 - 11.30 

PODCASTING - Gordon White, fatBuzz
Why you should consider podcasting as part of your marketing mix

• Podcasting options
• How to capture content
• Editing content
• Publishing your podcast
• Finding your audience

11.30 - 12.15 

FACEBOOK - Gordon White, fatBuzz
How charities can make use of Facebook for awareness, raising funds and, supporting fundraisers.

• Branding
• Tabs and iFrame Pages
• Using the timeline
• New functionality
• Liking, Commenting, Sharing and Tagging
• Photos and Video
• Syndicating content to your page
• Insights

12.15 - 12.45 

Q&A SESSION
12.45 - 13.15 

NETWORKING LUNCH

Buffet courtesy of No. 29

13.15 - 13.45 

CROWDFUNDING - Michelle Rodger, Bloom VC
What is crowdfunding and how it could work for charities?

13.45 - 14.30 

TWITTER AND MICROBLOGGING - Gordon White, fatBuzz

Why Twitter is an important social media tool

• Branding
• Functionality - Following, RT's, Hashtags etc 
• Searching - On Twitter and via Tweetdeck 
• Lists

14.30 - 14.45 

TEA and COFFEE

14.45 - 15.30 

LINKEDIN - Belinda Roberts, WeDo Scotland
How charities can use LinkedIn to engage

• LinkedIn Personal Profiles, Groups and Pages
• Setup - Things to consider
• Managing and promoting your LinkedIn presence 

15.30 - 16.15 

VIDEO - Gordon White, fatBuzz
Why video?

• Video options
• Branding your video content
• User generated video content
• Sharing video content

16.16 - 17.15 

CONTENT - Gordon White, fatBuzz 

Most organisations struggle with content, we will explore the following:

• What do you talk about?
• How do we say it?
• Where do we say it?
• How often do we say it?
• How do we make it engaging?
• How do we get people to share it?

17.15 - 17.45 

Q&A AND CLOSING REMARKS

17.45

Networking in the Oyster Bar

We hope you are able to attend the training session and that you will share the event with others. Please use the share buttons below to tell others in your community about this very special event.